Young Hero Named Honorary Firefighter at Funeral

Tyler Doohan—the 9-year-old who got six people out of a burning trailer but died trying to help two others—receive a hero's sendoff today in upstate New York, reports WHAM 13. "We consider him an honorary firefighter," says the fire chief in Penfield, who presented Tyler's mom with a helmet made in honor of her son. Meanwhile, the Democrat and Chronicle notes that fire departments from around the world added the boy's name to their daily duty rosters as a sign of respect, as seen in Facebook posts at Firefighters Worldwide.

One more sign of how Tyler's story has resonated: Among those at today's funeral were members of the basketball team from Silver Lake College in Wisconsin. None have ties to Tyler or his family—they were simply moved by the story and made the trip in tribute. "Our core values are compassion and community, and we teach them that compassion has no limits and community has no boundaries," the coach tells the newspaper. "They looked at this as if it happened next door." Click for more. (More Tyler Doohan stories.)